The Sita Distribution Project (questioncopyright.org/sita_distribution) is a real-world demonstration of how artists can flourish by allowing the audience freedom. We helped filmmaker Nina Paley release her award-winning feature-length film "Sita Sings The Blues" under a completely free license, and set up convenient processes by which the audience and non-exclusive commercial redistributors can cooperate with each other on distribution efforts and on sharing revenue with the filmmaker. We also helped her set up an online store where she can sell DVDs and other merchandise related to the film.
The results so far have been extraordinary. Even though the project is still under way, it has already raised more money for the filmmaker in donations than she believes a traditional controlled distribution arrangement would have produced in the same amount of time. Furthermore, the filmmaker's online store has grossed US $16,000.00 in its first five days. Even without — perhaps especially without — legally enforced exclusivity, audiences want to support artists.
Just as importantly, the audience's response to freedom has been to do more, not less. They have created subtitle tracks for the film in several languages, and coordinated their subtitling activity via the film's web site, proofing and correcting each others' work in the open. Because the filmmaker encourages this activity (instead of forcing it over to illegal peer-to-peer sharing sites), the volunteer-made subtitles are all posted on the film's web site and can be used on DVDs — not just the DVDs sold by the filmmaker, but DVDs made by anyone. Volunteers also help maintain a list of public screenings, and a list of sites around the Internet from which the film can be downloaded or streamed in various resolutions. All of this information is organized on the film's web site, which the volunteers help maintain.
The central idea of the Sita Distribution Project is that even when the creator renounces a legal monopoly, the audience still grants the creator a kind of "moral monopoly", and creators can flourish by leveraging this moral authority to enable fans to do what they naturally want to do anyway: support the artist and share the art. A key part of the formula is to explicitly permit third parties to make commercial re-use of the work. This benefits the artist in the long run, because some commercial redistributors attract customers by conspicuously sharing revenue with the artist, often in return for the artist's endorsement (see also the The Creator-Endorsed Mark). For example, Nina Paley is now in negotiation with comic book companies to produce a book version; the companies understand that the only exclusivity they are negotating for is her endorsement, not monopoly rights to adapt the film, since Nina Paley has already granted those rights to the world — thus making the film more popular, thus expanding the potential market for the comic books.
The film's free license has inspired others to base new derivative works on it, including even a line of clothing fashions.
Decentralized distribution has also proven to be an effective defense against censorship. Many countries, such as India (where a large audience for Sita Sings the Blues resides) have state censor boards which prohibit the distribution of controversial films. But free, decentralized distribution renders state censorship ineffective, because there is no single, central point at which access can be cut off.
Outputs:
The output of the Sita Distribution Project is a successful demonstration (aimed at artists and writers, and including quantitative data and documentation) of what can happen when a free work finds its audience. The documentation will be a set of repeatable procedures and recommendations, presented in text, video, and podcast form as needed. It will be universally available, but we will especially promote it in communities where it has the most potential to effect change: among independent filmmakers, writers, musicians, and other artists who are willing to consider free distribution if given specific guidance on how to make it work.